Demon and Spirit Possessions Anonymous
by Tari Sirfalas
Summary: Oneshot: Ryou joins the DSPA to cope with the lingering memory of his dark half. He meets up with Marik who is also a member and they have a little chat. Marik/Ryou bromance of sorts. Not exactly yaoi.


**Hi and welcome to my first ever Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic! ^_^ I recently got into the series thanks into a certain LittleKuriboh and his hilarious videos, and after I finished, this idea came to me: If Yugi is supposed to look and sound like the Pharaoh in the future, wouldn't Ryou do the same thing with Yami Bakura? And wouldn't that be scary for him, hearing that voice coming out of your own mouth every day... I also thought it'd be funny for Ryou and Marik to go to a spirit possession coping group. :D **

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DSPA: Demon and Spirit Possessions Anonymous

"Hi, my name is Ryou Bakura, and I…I…"

"It's ok, son. You don't have to say it on your first meeting." An elderly man moved to take his place at the podium.

"No, I'll do it." The white-haired young man took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "My name is Ryou Bakura, and I was possessed by a demonic spirit."

"Hi, Ryou!" the rest of the room chanted in unison.

"Would you like to continue, Mr. Bakura? You've already done this much." Ryou looked around at the room-full of people, equally confused, equally scared, and equally racked with guilt.

"Yeah, I'll tell my story." He cleared his throat and summoned any amount of courage he still had. A few people in front leaned in, eyes sparkling with interest. "Granted, much of what I know I learned from my friends because as most of you have already guessed, I don't remember a lot myself…um, where do I start?"

"Why not tell us how the spirit came to inhabit your body," the elderly man suggested.

"Ah, yes. It all started when my father came back home after a trip to Egypt when I was about fourteen. He had all sorts of souvenirs for us and one of them included a large necklace charm. It was shaped like a circle, with an eye carved in the middle. My dad told me it was called the Millennium Ring and that he felt I was destined to have it."

"So it was a cursed artifact?" the man asked. "Ok, hands up! Who here had a cursed artifact?" A dozen or so hands shot into the air. "You see, son, you're not alone here."

"Thank you," Ryou murmured, bowing his head slightly to the people before him. A single tear glided down his cheek. "It makes me feel better to know that people other than me know the slimy presence of another soul in your body."

A moment of silence met this remark. "What happened then?" the elderly man questioned. "Well, I didn't notice him at first," Ryou continued. "At times I would fade out of consciousness, but I didn't make a big deal out of it. That is, until one night when I was doing my homework. I heard a voice saying 'this is boring.' I turned around and my eyes settled on my own reflection in a mirror on the door. I saw a dark, ghostly person behind me, so of course I gasped and stupidly checked to see if he was really behind me. Of course, he wasn't. 'Who are you" I asked when I turned back to the mirror and he…he…" Ryou shivered slightly. "I'm sorry, just remembering the way he laughed still frightens me."

"It's quite alright, my boy. Do you—"

"Yes, I'll continue. So, the spirit answered me with a laugh. Even then, not knowing what he was, that laugh gave me chills. He then told me that he was the spirit of the ring around my neck. I immediately took it off and threw it across the room, hoping the spirit would go away, but he was still there. He laughed again and said he couldn't be gotten rid of that easily. He was now a part of my soul. Even so, I vowed I would never put the necklace on again, but I would discover myself wearing it every morning before school, after experiencing one of those lapses of consciousness. Eventually, I just gave up and let him have his way. I heard him constantly in the background at this point, making comments at my life. It was very distracting, but I ignored it and pretended that everything was alright, even though it certainly wasn't. At the library at school, sometimes I wandered into the section about Egypt, not knowing how I got there. Once, I found a bunch of hieroglyphics on a page in my notebook. When I asked my history teacher to translate it, he told me it said 'Find the Pharaoh' over and over again across the page. Newspaper clippings and magazine articles started appearing in my room, strewn all over my desk. I didn't know what to make of it. The spirit was very quiet during that time, only making snide remarks every once and awhile. Then, things changed yet again. One night, I found one newspaper clipping pinned up neatly on the wall. The headline was 'Young Boy Wins Tri-city Finals' and had a picture of my soon-to-be-friend—" Ryou turned to the old man. "Am I allowed to say his name?"

"You can. This is anonymous, after all."

"Ok, my soon-to-be-friend, Yugi Mutou." There were a few murmurs of recognition around the room. "Yes, I'm sure more than of a few of you know about him. Anyway, the article had his picture on it. In the picture, Yugi was wearing a strange pyramid shaped pendent on his neck. Someone, I assumed the spirit, had circled the pendent with a red marker and an arrow pointing out that said in scribbled English, 'found him.' It was by chance that my parents went on their long-planned second honeymoon a few days later, and as soon as they left, that was when I lost consciousness for the longest time yet. When I came to, I was slumped over the kitchen table, my traveling coat on and feeling really, really hungry. Later, I realized after seeing the date on the news that I had no memory of the past four days. I panicked and searched all the news stations to see if the spirit had made me do something terrible, but I didn't see anything. The next day, my parents came back from their vacation and my dad announced that we were moving. Apparently, a higher-up in the company had died in a tragic accident and my dad was the only one qualified to fill his position. He had to go work at the corporate headquarters in Domino City. So, long story, short, we moved and I transferred into Domino High School, where I first met Yugi and his other friends."

"I bet the spirit made you kill that man so you would move!" one woman in the front bellowed.

"That's what I assumed too," Ryou replied. "And that's why I tried to avoid being with Yugi, cause I knew that the spirit was probably going to do something horrible to him. Then, I—"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bakura, but I'm afraid we've run out of time. You can continue your tale in the next meeting." The elderly man gently took Ryou's place at the podium and wished the other members a happy week.

Ryou stood on the street corner outside when he suddenly heard a vaguely familiar voice. He turned to see Marik Ishtar, looking very dark against the rest of the people on the street, him included. He wore a jacket of beige leather, with a fur collar, and dark leather pants. Even early fall seemed too cold for the Egyptian.

"Marik? What are you doing here?" Ryou asked.

"The meeting," he answered simply, pointing a thumb at the building behind him. He noticed that Ryou's eyes grew wide and added, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you come."

"Oh, ok," he said.

"Yeah, my sister, Ishizu, you remember her? Yeah, she made me come at first, but now I think it's nice to see people I have something in common with…How did you get here anyway?"

"I got a cab."

"You want a ride, then?" he asked, nodding at the helmet he held between his arm and the side of his body. "I've got another helmet. Besides, there's something I wanted to say to you in private." Marik led him to the parking garage where his motorcycle was. Marik tossed him a helmet from one of the saddle bags and hopped onto it, kicking the engine to life.

"I don't know, Marik…" Ryou said, eyeing the metal machine cautiously. "I don't think I'm dressed right. You're wearing leather and I—" He was cut short when Marik jerked him onto the bike, only having a few seconds to strap on the helmet before the motorcycle was screaming down the city road, heading towards the center of town. Fearing for his life, Ryou grabbed around Marik's thin waist and tried to ignore the awkward feeling it gave him. They stopped at the city park and sat together on a wooden bench, surrounded by the beautiful autumn colors.

"It's been awhile," Marik remarked, looking up at the trees.

"Yeah, I guess it has," he replied. "About eight years now since that time in Egypt."

"I've been meaning to see Yugi, you know, catch up, but he seems very busy. Seems Kaiba Corp wanted him at the ground-breaking ceremony for their new Dueling Academy."

"Yeah, what a stupid idea," he answered, chuckling.

"I saw him on TV, though. It's amazing out much he looks and sounds like the Pharaoh."

"Yeah." Ryou sighed loudly, looking down at his hands.

Marik paused, glancing at Ryou, and then said, "I don't mean to be blunt, but I think you're starting to—"

"Yeah, I know!" Ryou suddenly snapped, cutting him off. "I'm starting to look like _him!"_ He folded his arms grudgingly and looked away. He sat like that for a while, and then turned his head back at Marik. "Most people don't realize that I'm the reincarnation of that spirit bastard, just like Yugi is to the Pharaoh. Every day, Yugi looks at his reflection and sees an old friend and partner. On the other hand, when I look at myself, I see a repressed nightmare staring back at me." Ryou wiped away tears that had started crawling down his face. "When I laugh, I can't help but shiver at my own voice. That face and that voice have haunted my life for so many years and now…now…" He gave a great big sniff as his nose started to run. "Now I can't escape it."

Marik shifted his eyes back and forth, unsure how to act, until he suddenly pulled Bakura into a hug, catching him by surprise.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"N-no, it's not your fault," Ryou replied, trying to sound happier. "I shouldn't have ranted like that."

"No, I'm sorry for a different thing," he corrected. "I told you earlier that I wanted to tell you something. Well, this is it. I'm sorry for all the dealings I had with that evil spirit all those years ago. After I defeated my own dark half, I vowed that I would set things right and make up for all the bad stuff I've done. You're the last one. So I'm sorry for the part I played in your cursed nightmare."

"I accept your apology, Marik," Ryou responded, patting him on the back as fresh tears of joy collected at the corners of his eyes. They stayed in a hug for another minute or two before Ryou broke it apart.

"So, can you give me a lift home? My cat needs to be fed."


End file.
